The Movies Archives - Cinematic Panic

Winner (2024): Really, I’m trying not to make a word-play here! But it’s a fun movie at least

By Fabian Bullitt 16 September 2024The MoviesMovie Review

Not so long ago, I watched the movie Buffaloed from 2019 with Zoey Deutch. I found the trailer fun and the movie was too, but it was also not original in the way the story was told. I was a bit afraid to have a repeat with this year’s Winner directed by Susanna Fogel.

The trailer hooked me by being fun and promising an interesting story. I found out that this was true and, unlike Buffaloed, it didn’t rely too heavily on the trope of the biopic format. There are some, but I think the original story behind the movie provided enough moral and emotional weight to avoid the most obvious traps.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974): The most thrilling Subway ride in New York

By Fabian Bullitt 14 September 2024The MoviesMovie Review, On My Shelf, Thriller

I’ve never been to New York City. In fact, I’ve never set foot in America. Yet, I feel like, somehow, I know a little bit of New York, New York, as I spend my life watching movies and TV shows set there. The image that comes to me when I think about the city is not really how it is there now, but how it was.

You know, like in Ghostbusters or—as you may have guessed—The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) directed by Joseph Sargent. For me, NY is everything but an asepticized place. It has character. It’s dirty. It’s loud. And people seem to be insufferable half the time (and also casually racist and sexist for some reason). The other half is guys like Walter Matthau as Lt. Garber. He has an attitude but I’m sure we could be friends.

Club Dread (2004): More Slasher or Comedy? I’m here for Bill Paxton!

By Fabian Bullitt 11 September 2024The MoviesBroken Lizard, Comedy, Horror, Movie Review

After revisiting the Super Troopers movies, I thought I’d continue with another Broken Lizard movie, Club Dread, a horror comedy from 2004. Or was it a comedy of horrors? I’m joking badly to try to express what was probably the downfall of that peculiar mix of slasher and Jimmy Buffett parody.

But please, don’t go talking about Margaritaville to Coconut Pete, you’ll kill all the fun!

When a serial killer interrupts the fun at the swanky Coconut Pete’s Coconut Beach Resort—a hedonistic island paradise for swingers—it’s up to the club’s staff to stop the violence … or at least hide it!

Super Troopers 2 (2018): They came back for more shenanigans!

By Fabian Bullitt 5 September 2024The MoviesBroken Lizard, Comedy, Movie Review, On My Shelf

Seventeen years later, they are back! They took their time and I’m pretty sure that if they waited a bit longer a streaming service would have offered them to produce this Super Troopers sequel. Anyway, the Broken Lizard team (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske) went back to their first and probably biggest success with Super Troopers 2, in 2018. Already six years ago.

It’s a bit like Bill & Ted’s return, after all these years of fans asking for it, you hope it would not suck. Yes, the comparison is not the best as the cultural impact of the two is quite different, but still, with movies that look of their time, you may expect that almost two decades later a sequel may fall a bit flat. The thing is, here, it doesn’t feel that long ago for some reason.

When an international border dispute arises between the U.S. and Canada, the Super Troopers—Mac, Thorny, Foster, Rabbit and Farva—are called in to set up a new Highway Patrol station in the disputed area.

Super Troopers (2001): Still Having Fun on the Job Two Decades Later, Meow!

By Fabian Bullitt 3 September 2024The MoviesComedy, Movie Review, On My Shelf

Saying it’s an “early 2000s American Comedy” is almost like giving a very precise description. There was something strangely specific and most of it didn’t age that well. I haven’t seen Eurotrip (2004) in a while, but already at the time it was better than the rest, so I hope it is still quite funny. Another favorite of mine from that period was Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) which I used to watch again and again until I didn’t anymore.

Super Troopers also was apart from the rest. First of all, it was an adult comedy at a time when teenage comedies were more prevalent. After all, Old School came after (in 2003) and for me, it was what redirected the genre in a more adult direction.

Anyways, I developed a soft spot for Broken Lizard’s comedies—the comedy troupe that comprises Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske—and it began with Super Troopers directed by Chandrasekhar.

Five bored, occasionally high and always ineffective Vermont state troopers must prove their worth to the governor or lose their jobs. After stumbling on a drug ring, they plan to make a bust, but a rival police force is out to steal the glory.

John Dies at the End (2012): The Soy Sauce of the Apocalypse is pretty good

By Fabian Bullitt 22 August 2024The MoviesHorror, Movie Review, On My Shelf

Since I started the On My Shelf column, I mostly wrote about classics and blockbusters, but it turns out that I have in my Blu-ray collection a few more anecdotical movies, some are still pretty good I think, and most are fun to rewatch.

That’s the case for John Dies at the End, a movie based on Jason Pargin’s novel of the same name adapted to the screen by Bubba Ho-Tep’s director, Don Coscarelli.

A new drug promises out-of-body experiences, but users are coming back changed forever, and an otherworldly invasion of Earth is underway.

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976): So Simple, Yet So Effective

By Fabian Bullitt 17 August 2024The MoviesJohn Carpenter Movies, Movie Review, Thriller

As I’m not the kind of cinephile to obsess over the work of a specific director or an actor, I like to judge one’s work for its own merits, not through the lens of my admiration for a particular individual. Nevertheless, my tastes are clearly in phase with John Carpenter’s films.

I can appreciate Halloween, but I don’t care for it. However, my favorite movie is The Thing, I regularly feel the need to rewatch The Fog, They Live, In The Mouth of Madness, or Big Trouble in Little China. And from time to time, I like to revisit Assault on Precinct 13.

The lone inhabitants of an abandoned police station are under attack by the overwhelming numbers of a seemingly unstoppable street gang.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989): Maybe Not The Holy Grail, But Great Nonetheless

By Fabian Bullitt 10 August 2024The MoviesMovie Review, On My Shelf

Growing up, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was my favorite of the trilogy. As an adult, it’s not anymore, Raiders of the Lost Ark is, but I realized that it’s certainly the more kid-friendly entry of the three as it regularly veers right into cartoon territory.

Also, I probably loved it a bit more because of recency bias as it was the only one I was old enough to wait for it when it came out. I didn’t see him in the theater I think—I don’t remember—but I’m pretty sure my father rented the movie, especially because Sean Connery was quite popular in my house.

When Dr. Henry Jones Sr. suddenly goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, eminent archaeologist Indiana must team up with Marcus Brody, Sallah, and Elsa Schneider to follow in his father’s footsteps and stop the Nazis from recovering the power of eternal life.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984): The messy adventures of Indy in India

By Fabian Bullitt 6 August 2024The MoviesMovie Review, On My Shelf

If it’s not that easy to write about Raiders of the Lost Ark as this movie is mostly perfect and it seems futile to try to add something new to the discussion about it, there’s no consensus about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It’s as loved as it is hated, but most people would probably find themselves in the middle of this large spectrum of emotion.

Personally, I kinda love it, but I rarely think about it. I always have a great time rewatching it as there are a lot of great action scenes and funny moments, but overall, it felt short when it came to achieving greatness. Everything didn’t gel together in the best way possible.

After arriving in India, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees—and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): The Perfect Adventure Movie

By Fabian Bullitt 3 August 2024The MoviesMovie Review, On My Shelf

When I had the idea of launching the “On My Shelf” column, I hesitated because I was not sure what I could write about some movies. You know, the ones everybody has already written about during the last decades, movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark!

Strangely, I started with Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and then wrote about Ridley Scott’s Alien, so I probably can tackle this masterpiece of adventure cinema by Steven Spielberg.

When Dr. Indiana Jones—the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist—is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.